In the morning, everybody gets up and the spellcasters meditate, pray,
or study their spellbooks. Hazen sidles over to Kress. "How ya doin',
big guy?" he asks his henchman.

Kress shrugs. "OK, I guess," he answers. "I don't like it when people
mess with my mind."

Hazen nods. "That umber hulk was no 'people', but I hear ya." Tapping
his own head, he continues "You just gotta be strong. You won't
find me being controlled some cheatin' mental spell!"

Veracity looks up from her spellbook and smirks at him. "Right, Hazen.
Only those that have minds are susceptible."

Kress smiles and turns away as Hazen sputters.

Soon, all were ready, and the party lines up and trudges off through the
darkness. Little of note happens until after the party had eaten lunch
and resumed their hike. Rounding a bend in the passage, the heroes
encounter a group of fiendish creatures.

One of them is large, towering as high as an ogre. Its body is covered
with scales and it has huge, bat-like wings and a prehensile tail. Two
huge horns jut forth from atop its head and its glaring red eyes and
gaping maw full of sharp teeth bode ill for anyone who should fall into
its grasp. Flexing a large spike chain stretched between its two hands,
it hisses with malevolence at Igor.

In front of it stand three devils, each as tall as a large human, their
bodies covered with sharp spikes and barbs, all the way to the tips of
their long meaty tails. One excitedly hops from foot to foot, while the
other two simply fidget nervously. Their eyes shift and dart around as
they glance quickly from one approaching warrior to the next.

Nobody in the front rank seems to comprehend what they've just
encountered, but several others are aware of the peril.

The horned devil, a cornugon stares at Igor and a huge ball of flame
blossoms around the rogue. Using pure instinct, he dodges to the side
and escapes unscathed. "What?" he wonders. "Oh!" he exclaims, staring
at the devils. Veracity, although subconsciously aware that something
was amiss, stands still as the fireball engulfs her. The flames wrap
around her, but her powers of resistance render them ineffective: she is
unharmed.

The first barbed devil, a hamatula, grins. Small flashing particles
surround Igor, Veracity, and Brianna, moving in regular patterns, before
disappearing. Igor and Veracity seem unharmed, but small wounds appear
all over Brianna's flesh. "Ouch!" she yelps.

The second hamatula vanishes.

Hazen moves up between Tebryn and Brianna, drawing his dagger. He stops
and stares at the fiendish group.

The third hamatula grins. "More meat for my spell!" he says in
Infernal. A cloud of black motes spin and flash around Igor, Veracity,
Brianna, and Hazen. This time, Veracity and Brianna are unharmed,
but the two rogues are each slightly wounded.

Tebryn raises his eyebrows. "This could be tough," he comments, as he
draws forth a small item from his pouch. "Haste for all of us!" he
says, as he waves his hand. All of his companions seem somehow more
alert.

"Tough?" says Yol. "Let's just see how tough they are." She casts a
small wad of guano at the infernal raiders and a fireball blossoms
around them. All smile and bask in the flames. "Just like home,"
taunts the cornugon. Yol scowls.

Veracity leers at the devils and wiggles her fingers. Five bolts of
force shoot from her hand and plunge into the body of the first
hamatula. It grimaces. Igor smiles and mutters a command word. His
cloak shimmers as he advances, drawing his greatsword, to stand next to
the third hamatula. Kress moves up from the rear of the party to just
behind Igor. The cornugon grins and another fireball blossoms around
Igor. Just as before, the rogue leaps to the side and avoids the
flames, but the unfortunate Kress is not quite so lucky: he stands and
is singed. The first hamatula disappears and reappears right behind
Kress.

Meanwhile, the second hamatula, who had disappeared earlier, now moves
up from the rear of the line and claws at the unsuspecting Yol. She
wheels around, shaken, but unstirred, as it attempts to grapple her.
She wriggles free of its grasp and stands her ground.

Hazen fearlessly flies back and flanks Yol's hamatula. He stabs it with
his dagger, striking true and penetrating a sensitive spot, but
discovers the perils in attacking such creatures in this fashion: he,
himself, also is injured by the sharp barbs on its body. Yol nods in
approval. "Way to go, Hazen," she says to the gray dwarf.

Igor's hamatula grins and lashes out at him with its spiky fist. The
spines dig deep into the hapless rogue, injuring him severely. The devil
pulls Igor against its barbed body, impaling him on more spikes and
hurting him just as severely. Its other flailing arm is unable to grab
him. Igor pales and starts to flail around in a panic.

Brianna looks at both ends of the group, and sighs. "Against such foes,
you must bolster your courage and do mighty deeds of your own," she
says. "Let me sing of the heroes of old who slew devils like these."

Tebryn tosses four silver pins to the ground. A bolt of lightning
strikes Kress's foe, before arcing to Igor's foe and finally grounding
itself on the cornugon. All of the devils are somewhat burned.
"Right," says Tebryn. "Fire won't do, but you didn't like that,
did you?"

Yol stares at the devil standing between her and Hazen and shakes her
head. She concentrates, and surrounds herself with five images of
herself.

Veracity utters an arcane phrase and Igor's hamatula briefly stiffens,
before shaking free of the spell. Veracity stamps her foot in annoyance
and draws the Sword of Kas as she moves up behind Kress's hamatula. She
frowns, as she considers the barbs covering it.

Igor pulls himself together and no longer seems paniced, although his
predicament remains dire: he is still impaled on the hamatula's spines.

Kress swings his longsword four times at a devil. He misses twice, but
two of strikes land solidly. Unfortunately, he inadvertently stabs
himself on the creature's barbs while attacking it, and takes even more
damage than his foe. He frowns. "I don't like the way this works," he
complains. His foe chuckles at him.

The horned cornugon concentrates again and yet another ball of fire
blossoms, engulfing Igor, Kress, and Veracity this time. Somehow, the
grappled Igor manages to twist his way out of flames. Veracity
stolidly stands her ground and completely resists the spell. The
unfortunate Kress is not so lucky: he takes the full brunt.

Adding injury to injury, Kress's hamatula claws him twice with its
spiky hands, fortunately failing to grab and impale him. Kress is
still shaken by the experience.

At the opposite end of the group, Hazen's devil strikes the rogue.
Hazen screams and flails about in panic as the devil grabs him and
impales the unfortunate rogue on its body spikes, pushing him more
firmly into place with yet another powerful blow. Hazen tries to pull
himself together but fails: his straits are too dire.

Tebryn concentrates and thrusts forth his staff of
wizardry. Yellowmane the leonal appears behind Igor's hamatula and
immediately claws the devil twice. Just as had happened with Kress, the
sharp barbs covering the fiend's body injure the guardinal.

---

Yol steps back 5 feet and casts Magic Missiles, which fail.

Veracity drops her life stealer, pulls out her godstone (provoking a
missed attack of opportunity) and shoots a Energy Drain at Hamatula 1,
bestowing 5 negative levels on it.

Kress tries to withdraw, flying overhead. Veracity glares at him and
he settles back to the ground and goes into full defense.

Cornugon swings his spiked chain at Yellowmane for 13 points. He is not
stunned. He swings it again for a critical for 34 points, stunning
him. He swings it again for 13 points. He bites him for 4 points. He
swings his tail for 4 points, bestowing an infernal wound.

Veracity turns and moves up behind Brianna, watching the other battle
with interest.

Igor flies up and lands next to Hamatula 2.
Kress flies up and lands behind Igor.
Hamatula claws at Igor, missing him. It claws again, hitting for 18
points. Igor is shaken but not stirred. It fails to grapple him.